Wash them clothes....how?

[Mortblanc]

Is making soap from scratch a lost art in GB?

We do it at historic sites all the time as a demo of 18th century rural skills.

Leftover cooking grease and whatever fats can be found, lye made from wood ashes, a good soap kettle and a morning of boiling will set you up for several weeks/months. You can make either soft soap or hard soap to cut into bars.

Back then the sequence was to separate the clothes into dark, colors and whites. Whites were done first, then colors, then darks.

Clothes went into a tub of BOILING SOAPY WATER first.

After a good boil to kill the lice they were dumped onto a solid surface and the dirt beaten out of them with a "battling board".

Then back to the soapy water for a slosh.

After that they got a good rinse, then were wrung out by hand and hung to dry. Whites and linens were spread on the grass for sun bleaching.

No need for plungers, agitators, plastic buckets or specific crap. A bit tub to boil in and another tub for rinsing, and a good solid table for the scrubbing/beating/battling is all you need.

My Mom washed all our clothes by hand like this for the first few years of my life. I was 9-10 before she got a washing machine and there were no coin operated centers in our area.

Back then women that wanted to keep a reputation as being worth keeping spent a full day at washing, then a second day at ironing.

[Skean Dhude]

No. It isn't MB. There are many articles on making your own soap.

Our issue is that in this nanny state most of the ingredients are not allowed in case we hurt ourselves so most of us don't have access to the proper materials. We have to go looking for them.

[uks]

No MB I make our own liquid detergent, softener/conditioner, hand soap, all natural cleaners, shampoo and many others. I have no problem finding the ingredients.

[NorthernRaider]

We make our own soap, detergent, toothpaste and are starting making our own skin cleansers from witch hazel soon, we are also experimenting making body butter and our own anti septic cream.

[River Song]

Check this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BuqvJEVNqU

I'm not going to bolt those tubes on but suggest very thick rubber piping held on
by Araldite or other epoxy resin.

But can ANYONE point me to where I can buy a plastic drum like that 6 US Gallon one with a lid?

OH and more more thing. Why don't the yanks know what a gallon is? And why do they think there is something wrong with the letter 'u' in colour ??

[Mortblanc]

We changed all our weights and measures and drive on the wrong side of the road just to irritate you Brits. We also run race tracks the wrong way.

But we do have the ability to make the R sound in colouR!

BTW my spell check says that U is not needed.

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Your spelling and grammar are derived from the Oxford English dictionary and American versions are derived from the Daniel Webster version, both done I the early 1800s.

Daniel Webster was a famous early American politician, statesmen and scholar.

Our spellings are specifically designed to restrict voting rights. We have very strange rules and requirements in our spelling so that phonics is disrupted. It kept poor people that could not attend formal school from passing the literacy tests required for voting.

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Noah, Daniel and Merrium Webster were all the same New England clan.

[Sunna]

would boiling in a big cast iron pot work ?

[NorthernRaider]

Sunna at the Beamish living museum they still have many Victorian and Edwardian houses, shops, etc fully operational and when we last visited one of the cottages had a large copper caldren ( for want of a better discription) set into a brick frame with a coal fire underneath. In this they boiled the clothes in hot water before transfering it to a large corrugated wooden tub and agitating the laundry with a poss stick. Cloths need a good agitate in hot water apparently.

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BTW Group if you have ever wondered what the post oil post electric world is likely to be like I strongly reccomend you visit the beamish open air mueum in Co Durham,

[Sunna]

the cast iron pot i have is of that age but sadly many have holes drilled into the bottom so they can be used as trendy plant pots so im good to go .
you also see the corrugated tubs wooden or metal in gardens with plants in all the time .

[River Song]

(8 August 2013, 23:21)Mortblanc Wrote: We changed all our weights and measures and drive on the wrong side of the road just to irritate you Brits. We also run race tracks the wrong way.

But we do have the ability to make the R sound in colouR!

BTW my spell check says that U is not needed.

---

Your spelling and grammar are derived from the Oxford English dictionary and American versions are derived from the Daniel Webster version, both done I the early 1800s.

Daniel Webster was a famous early American politician, statesmen and scholar.

Our spellings are specifically designed to restrict voting rights. We have very strange rules and requirements in our spelling so that phonics is disrupted. It kept poor people that could not attend formal school from passing the literacy tests required for voting.

---

Noah, Daniel and Merrium Webster were all the same New England clan.

Yeah? well someone needs to tell Micro$oft that there is no such thing as US English :-):-)

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(8 August 2013, 23:21)Mortblanc Wrote: We changed all our weights and measures and drive on the wrong side of the road just to irritate you Brits. We also run race tracks the wrong way.

But we do have the ability to make the R sound in colouR!

BTW my spell check says that U is not needed.

---

Your spelling and grammar are derived from the Oxford English dictionary and American versions are derived from the Daniel Webster version, both done I the early 1800s.

Daniel Webster was a famous early American politician, statesmen and scholar.

Our spellings are specifically designed to restrict voting rights. We have very strange rules and requirements in our spelling so that phonics is disrupted. It kept poor people that could not attend formal school from passing the literacy tests required for voting.

---

Noah, Daniel and Merrium Webster were all the same New England clan.

Yeah? well someone needs to tell Micro$oft that there is no such thing as US English :-):-)